Attitudes on GMO: A Critique of a Mixed Method Study in India

The study utilized a mixed method approach using questionnaires and interviews to gather data from farmers, consumers, students, media personnel, and agricultural officials. However, the study lacked clarity in its background context, methodology, data analysis strategy, and recommendations for further research or policy development.

Running head: ATTITUDES ON GMO
Attitudes on GMO
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ATTITUDES ON GMO
Abstract:
The study “Attitudes and Perceptions about GMOs: A Quantitative and Qualitative
Study in India” by Gene Campaign used a mixed method utilizing questionnaires and
interviews to understand the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents towards GMO.
However the study did not outline the background context of the research problem, the
methodology, data analysis strategy, recommendations or suggestions for further research or
policy development that can help to increase the utilization of GM in the industry. The main
findings of the study included the perspectives of the farmers and students to GMO and their
knowledge and openness towards this technology. Such information was significant as it
helped to understand whether the respondents had necessary knowledge about GMO and its
advantages and how to address their concerns. Overall the study did provide some valuable
insights into the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents and the factors that can affect
the utilization of the GM technology. However since the study did not follow the standard
practices of academic research, it reduces the rigor of the data and makes the process of
verifying the results complicated. The authors however did not provide a clear cut conclusion
for the study and hence it was not very clear the inferences the researchers drew from the
data.

2ATTITUDES ON GMO
Contents
Abstract:.....................................................................................................................................1
Summary of the paper................................................................................................................3
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Methodology:.............................................................................................................................3
Results and discussion:..............................................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
CRITIQUE paper:....................................................................................................................10
Introduction:.............................................................................................................................10
Methodology:...........................................................................................................................10
Results and Discussion:............................................................................................................10
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................11

3ATTITUDES ON GMO
Summary of the paper
Introduction:
The given study was done to understand the attitudes and perceptions towards
Genetically Modified Organisms in India between 2007 and 2010 by Gene Campaign. This is
a researchable topic since attitudes and perceptions can be studied through a quantitative and
qualitative analysis. As opined by Palinkas et al.1 It is possible to study such aspects by
conducting a mixed method research (using qualitative and quantitative data) by
incorporating questionnaires and interview that can capture the though process as well as the
beliefs, ideas and attitudes towards a particular topic.
This is an important research topic since GMO has the potential to address the current
deficit in the production of food to meet the rising population demand and also because a
significant amount of misunderstanding and misconceptions remain within the public thereby
causing an underutilization and under implementation of this technology. The study
involved farmers, consumers, students, media personnel, agricultural officials who were
interviewed and provided with questionnaires to understand their attitudes and perceptions
towards GMO.
Methodology:
The researchers conducted interviews and provided questionnaires to the respondents
to understand their beliefs and attitudes that can affect their propensity to use GMO. The
study was consistent in its interview and questionnaire structure and provided reliable and
valid information collected directly from the participants who are directly involved in the
usage and consumption of GMO. However in this case the type of sampling was not clarified
1 Palinkas LA, Horwitz SM, Green CA, Wisdom JP, Duan N, Hoagwood K. Purposeful sampling for qualitative
data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental
Health and Mental Health Services Research. 2015 Sep 1;42(5):533-44.

4ATTITUDES ON GMO
and neither was any strategy to avoid sampling bias was identified which can also reduce the
reliability and validity of the study.
The method of using interviews and questionnaires is also a valid and appropriate
strategy as it can allow the researchers to capture the mindsets of the respondents which can
influence the utilization or non utilization of GMO and therefore help the researchers to
understand the factors the beliefs and though processes that facilitates or prevents the usage
of GMO2. Asking questions such as the types of pesticides the farmers would like to use, the
authorities thy would trust about information of GMO seeds and asking consumers about
their perceptions on GM foods can help to understand whether they are ready to use this
technology3.
It has been pointed that outlining the methods and instruments of a study is one of the
most important aspect of any research as it allows other researchers to understand how
exactly the study was conducted, data gathered and analyzed which can help in the
replication of the study and cross validate the findings. However, the process of interviewing
the participants based on the questions in this study can be replicated as all the questions have
been outlined on the study4.
2 Couée I. Hidden Attraction: Empirical Rationality in GMO Opposition. Trends in plant science. 2016 Feb
1;21(2):91.
3 McCusker K, Gunaydin S. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and choice based on the
research. Perfusion. 2015 Oct;30(7):537-42.
4 Alavi M, Archibald M, McMaster R, Lopez V, Cleary M. Aligning theory and methodology in mixed methods
research: Before Design Theoretical Placement. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 2018
Feb 11:1-4.

5ATTITUDES ON GMO
(Figure 1: The study design. Source: self work)
Results and discussion:
The steps that were involved in the analysis of the data have not been clearly
identified in this study. Instead the study directly reported the statistical data in the form of
graphs, tables and charts that showed the attitudes and beliefs of the respondents. Moreover,
the study also directly delved into the findings from the study without providing the raw data
that was collected. As a result of this, the method of the study remains unclear expect for the
fact that this was a quantitative study that used interviews and questionnaires. Similarly the
study also did not outline how the collected data was analyzed by the researchers and no
justification provided for the selection of the used methodology as a result of which it is
unclear the type of data processing that was used in the study. Such aspects have significantly
affected the reliability and validity of the study.
The study used both qualitative and quantitative data through closed and open ended
questions that is aimed to understand the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents towards
GMO
However since the study did not outline the method of the study or the type of data
analysis that was done on the information, it does affect the rigor of the study. The data and
the claims of the study can still be substantiated by the responses from the interviewees and

6ATTITUDES ON GMO
research participants as these questionnaires can clearly help to understand the attitudes and
beliefs on GMO5. Thus it can be said that the data was not completely rigorous in nature but
can still be substantiated through eh response of the participants.
Most of the results that was reported in this study was relevant to the study and
research question and allowed to understand the attitudes and perceptions of the respondents.
The questions provided for the consumers or students have been focused on GM foods and
whether they would prefer to consume such food or if they are worried about their health
effects6. These questions could help to understand whether the consumers have any
significant concerns regarding the safety of the GM food which needs to be addressed by the
Food and healthcare industries. The questions regarding what the respondents thought about
the availability of GM foods, sources thy find reliable for information on GM foods and
features that consumers though was important for GM foods was relevant because it could
help the researchers to understand how to improve the use of GM food. However the
questions made to the farmers were mostly related to pesticides and pest control strategies
which was only one aspect of GMO crops (pesticide resistance). The study did not however
consider the other types of GMO that provided high yields or better environmental tolerance
within the questionnaire as a result of which it could not be clarified what the farmers thought
about the usage of such varieties of GMO.
The aim of the study was to understand the attitudes and perceptions of people
towards GMO and the results of the questionnaire and interviews was able to point out
towards such perceptions and attitudes as well as understand the factors that might be related
to such perceptions and attitudes towards GMO. The interview questions were related to the
5 Rassia ST. Research Data Collection. InWorkplace Environmental Design in Architecture for Public Health
2017 (pp. 33-39). Springer, Cham.
6 Forrester MA, Sullivan C, editors. Doing qualitative research in psychology: A practical guide. SAGE
Publications Limited; 2018 Dec 29.

7ATTITUDES ON GMO
usage of GM foods, GM crops and the factors that can facilitate their usage and consumption.
Thus the interpretation was related to the research topic and it helped to understand the
factors that might help to increase the utilization of GMO technology. It has been suggested
by some authors that qualitative studies that involved questionnaires directly based on the
research topic can be useful for understanding the mindsets of people and therefore
understand the underlying factors that can influence the behavior7. Moreover, by
understanding such factors it is also possible to understand how to best influence and enhance
such behaviors. In this study, understanding the factors that can help to facilitate the usage of
GMO through the questionnaire and interviews has helped to interpret the data in relation to
the research topic8. Therefore it can be stated that the results were indeed interpreted in
relation to the research.
In this study, all the findings were provided and the results were not segregated on the
basis of their importance. The results were all reported one by one using graphs, charts and
diagrams that showed the responses of the respondents to the questionnaires. The results were
also differentiated on the bases of the groups of respondents such as farmers and consumers.
However since the study did not segregate the results on the bases of their relevance or
importance, it is difficult to understand which were the most important question for the study.
For any research it is important to categories the findings on the bases of its importance so
that it is possible to understand the questions that have the most significance to the study.
Moreover, stating the most important result also helps to understand the main aspects within
the study9. However, since all the study results were outlined in the study it can be assumed
7 Ary D, Jacobs LC, Irvine CK, Walker D. Introduction to research in education. Cengage Learning; 2018.
8 Reardon B, Moore N, Kofman E, Van Allen EM. Feature-based clinical interpretation of whole exome and
transcriptome data for precision cancer medicine.
9 Weber K, Lasch F, Koch A. New research strategy with ambiguous implications: A comment on “Planning
future studies based on the conditional power of a meta‐analysis”. Statistics in medicine. 2018 Apr
15;37(8):1402-4.

8ATTITUDES ON GMO
that all the results might have equivalent significance to the research, in which case such an
assumption should have been outlined by the researchers10.
The results provided various relevant information that helped to understand the
perceptions and attitudes of the respondents towards GMO and understand the propensity of
people to use this technology. Asking the consumers about their knowledge on GMO such as
if they have heard of GMO, if they thought they were available in the Indian market, if they
heard about their benefits and risks, who is benefited from the GMO industry, the rights of
the people towards information on GM food, GM food labeling policies, GM food testing and
monitoring and features they feel are most important for GM foods can help to understand
whether they feel comfortable and safe to use GM food or if they have any significant
concerns regarding its health effects and its regulation in the market which needs to be
addressed to improve GM food utilization. Asking the farmers about their preferences
towards pesticides and the factors they would prefer in the GM crops can help to increase the
use of GM crops by them. The questionnaires for the farmers can also help to understand the
sources of information they feel are the most trustworthy for GM crops related information
which can be used to further educate the farmers on GMO and how to best utilize them to
increase to improve their yield11.
Conclusion:
The study did not outline the main points that was drawn out of the study and instead
left it up to the readers to understand what the findings from the interviews and
questionnaires meant. This was a significant flaw in the research since it did not provide an
10 Fraiture MA, Herman P, Papazova N, De Loose M, Deforce D, Ruttink T, Roosens NH. An integrated
strategy combining DNA walking and NGS to detect GMOs. Food chemistry. 2017 Oct 1;232:351-8.
11 Fraiture MA, Herman P, Papazova N, De Loose M, Deforce D, Ruttink T, Roosens NH. An integrated
strategy combining DNA walking and NGS to detect GMOs. Food chemistry. 2017 Oct 1;232:351-8.

9ATTITUDES ON GMO
insight that the researchers made from the study as well as what their conclusions were. The
study does not provide any recommendations from the research which might have been
useful to inform policy changes on GMO. Instead the study ended with the findings of the
interviews which were thematically arranged. This significantly affected the strength of the
study. Suggestions for future studies or identification for research gaps was also not done on
this study which could have helped other researchers to continue with the study.

10ATTITUDES ON GMO
CRITIQUE paper:
Introduction:
Through the study it can be possible to identify the attitudes and perceptions that
foster or challenge the use and consumption of GMO which justifies the choice of the topic in
this study12. This is a relevant strategy since they play an important role in the usage of the
GMO technology. However, the study does not provide any statistical information about
GMO usage and its possible trends in India or worldwide to develop a context for the study
which is a significant flaw in the research design13.
Methodology:
It should also be noted that since the study did not include the raw data from the
interviews and questionnaires it does affect the reliability of the information to some extent.
It has been suggested by some authors that sampling strategies and sampling bias can
influence the reliability and validity of the study14. The study however did not outline the
methods and instruments used in its details. The study directly delves into the findings from
the questionnaire without outlining the research question, background or the methodology of
the study which can make the process of replicating the study challenging. Thus a lack of
such information can significantly reduce the possibility to replicate this study in its
exactness.
Results and Discussion:
12 Berthelsen H, Hakanen J, Kristensen TS, Lönnblad A, Westerlund H. A qualitative study on the content
validity of the social capital scales in the Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (COPSOQ II).
13 McCusker K, Gunaydin S. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and choice based on the
research. Perfusion. 2015 Oct;30(7):537-42.
14 McCusker K, Gunaydin S. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and choice based on the
research. Perfusion. 2015 Oct;30(7):537-42.

11ATTITUDES ON GMO
By analyzing the structure of the study it can be assumed that the data collected did
not require much analysis and most of the questions and their answers were self
explanatory15. . The rigor of the data could be attributed by the utilization of the standard
questionnaire that was given to all the respondents and due to the fact that the statistics from
the collected data was reported in the study16. Additionally, the strategy for the collection of
the data can be understood from the structure of the study that used both qualitative and
quantitative approaches within a mixed method system also added to the rigor of the study. 17.
Thus, even though most of the questions were relevant to the research, some of the questions
still had limited relevancy to the study.
Conclusion:
The results of the study provided some fresh insights and new perspectives into the
attitudes and the perceptions of the participants towards GMO in relation to the authorities
the respondents trusted on for GMO related data. It can be stated that recommendations as
well as suggestions for future studies is an important aspect for any research since it can help
to address the main problem that the research tried to address.
15 Alavi M, Archibald M, McMaster R, Lopez V, Cleary M. Aligning theory and methodology in mixed methods
research: Before Design Theoretical Placement. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 2018
Feb 11:1-4.
16 Alavi M, Archibald M, McMaster R, Lopez V, Cleary M. Aligning theory and methodology in mixed methods
research: Before Design Theoretical Placement. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 2018
Feb 11:1-4.
17 King N, Horrocks C, Brooks J. Interviews in qualitative research. SAGE Publications Limited; 2018 Dec 29.

12ATTITUDES ON GMO
References:
Alavi M, Archibald M, McMaster R, Lopez V, Cleary M. Aligning theory and methodology
in mixed methods research: Before Design Theoretical Placement. International Journal of
Social Research Methodology. 2018 Feb 11:1-4.
Ary D, Jacobs LC, Irvine CK, Walker D. Introduction to research in education. Cengage
Learning; 2018.
Berthelsen H, Hakanen J, Kristensen TS, Lönnblad A, Westerlund H. A qualitative study on
the content validity of the social capital scales in the Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire
(COPSOQ II).
Couée I. Hidden Attraction: Empirical Rationality in GMO Opposition. Trends in plant
science. 2016 Feb 1;21(2):91.
Forrester MA, Sullivan C, editors. Doing qualitative research in psychology: A practical
guide. SAGE Publications Limited; 2018 Dec 29.
Fraiture MA, Herman P, Papazova N, De Loose M, Deforce D, Ruttink T, Roosens NH. An
integrated strategy combining DNA walking and NGS to detect GMOs. Food chemistry.
2017 Oct 1;232:351-8.
King N, Horrocks C, Brooks J. Interviews in qualitative research. SAGE Publications
Limited; 2018 Dec 29.
McCusker K, Gunaydin S. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and
choice based on the research. Perfusion. 2015 Oct;30(7):537-42.
Palinkas LA, Horwitz SM, Green CA, Wisdom JP, Duan N, Hoagwood K. Purposeful
sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation

13ATTITUDES ON GMO
research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research.
2015 Sep 1;42(5):533-44.
Rassia ST. Research Data Collection. InWorkplace Environmental Design in Architecture for
Public Health 2017 (pp. 33-39). Springer, Cham.
Reardon B, Moore N, Kofman E, Van Allen EM. Feature-based clinical interpretation of
whole exome and transcriptome data for precision cancer medicine.
Weber K, Lasch F, Koch A. New research strategy with ambiguous implications: A comment
on “Planning future studies based on the conditional power of a meta‐analysis”. Statistics in
medicine. 2018 Apr 15;37(8):1402-4.